Death is a serious business at Reuters. One of its snappers just won a Pulitzer for shooting a dying cameraman. “A moment to be proud of,” boasted bosses.
Back at corporate headquarters, a book of the dead reminds visitors more sombrely of the prices people pay to bring them news.
The latest entry will honour a Gazan cameraman killed by an Israeli tank. Having already lost half a dozen reporters to American fire in Iraq, Reuters is demanding an investigation.
So far, so fair. But when Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger turned his hand to eulogy, he betrayed the memory of 23-year-old Fadel Shana.
“Our hearts obviously go out to his family,” Schlesinger told staff, though his head was clearly elsewhere. “It is, of course, striking,” his memo continued, “that this tragedy occurred on the last day for Reuters as it has been and the day before Thomson Reuters begins.”
Cue homilies to this “news and information power”, which makes most of its money selling trading systems to banks.
